Ukrainian aircraft manufacturer Antonov has expressed interest in establishing a maintenance facility in Sudan that would serve the country as well as the rest of Africa, Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir has disclosed.

Al-Bashir on March 23 said the Ukrainian government had proposed setting up a maintenance facility to serve Africa at the Safat Aviation Complex, established in 2005 for the assembly, manufacture and maintenance of aircraft for Sudan’s military, reports the Sudan Tribune. Sudan’s Air Force has a number of Anonovs in service, including roughly half a dozen An-12s, half a dozen An-26s and half a dozen An-30/32s.

Sudan’s president also said that it will be mandatory for new military aircraft to be maintained at Safat, otherwise a contract will not be signed.

This is not the first time Antonov has considered establishing a maintenance facility in Sudan. During a visit to the Ukraine in February 2013, Sudan’s transport minister Babiker Ahmed Nahar discussed the possibility of establishing an Antonov maintenance and training facility in Sudan. Following the visit he said that Sudan was in talks to buy five Antonovs, either An-158 or An-148 models.The proposed facility is part of Sudan’s efforts to improve the domestic defence industry, something promoted by defence minister Abdel-Rahim Mohamed Hussein. He said that stronger armed forces are needed to ease conflict in places like Darfur.Since the 1990s Chinese, Russian and Iranian companies have helped Sudan develop its domestic military industry, which manufactures small arms, artillery and armoured vehicles. The Military Industry Corporation (MIC) was established in 1993 to manufacture weapons and equipment for the Sudanese military and is now marketing its products internationally. Products include recoilless rifles, mortars, rocket launchers and upgraded armoured vehicles, amongst others.

For some time Antonov was engaged in discussions with Denel Aviation regarding marketing its aircraft in Africa and establishing a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) centre on the continent. However, the partnership with Antonov has been paused for now as the majority of Antonov aircraft in Africa are not flying.

By Associated Press, Published: May 30KHARTOUM, Sudan — Sudan said Friday that it won’t install Iranian anti-aircraft missiles in the country after earlier exploring the idea following suspected Israeli airstrikes there in 2012.

A statement from Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the country wouldn’t install the defensive missiles “for fear it could be misinterpreted by some Gulf states.”

In October 2012, Sudan claimed that Israeli airstrikes caused an explosion and fire at a military factory south of the capital, Khartoum, killing two people. It said four aircraft hit the Yarmouk complex, setting off a huge blast that rocked the capital before dawn.

Israel never claimed the attack, but Israeli officials at the time said Sudan played a key role in an Iranian-backed network of arms shipments to hostile Arab militant groups across the Middle East.

Sudan has been engaged in various armed conflicts for many years. Its government has been at war with rebels in the western region of Darfur and with its neighbors in South Sudan, which broke away to become Africa’s newest country in 2011.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has been indicted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Sudan was a major hub for al-Qaida militants and remains a transit for weapon smugglers and African migrant traffickers.

The U.S. imposed economic, trade and financial sanctions against Sudan in 1997, citing the Sudanese government’s support for terrorism, including its sheltering of al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden in the mid-1990s. In 1998, American cruise missiles bombed a Khartoum pharmaceutical factory suspected of links to al-Qaida.

In 2009, Sudan accused Israel of carrying out an airstrike on an arms convoy near the Red Sea in eastern Sudan.

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A 400-strong Sudanese force arrived in Yemen’s port city Aden Monday in support of pro-government forces preparing to confront a possible new offensive by rebels on the country’s south. Yemen’s loyalist forces, backed by Saudi-led coalition strikes, supplies and troops, pushed the rebels out of Aden as part of an operation launched in July to take back territory they had lost. Four other southern provinces — Lahj, Daleh, Abyan and Shabwa — were also retaken by the forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi. “More than 400 Sudanese soldiers landed in Aden” as part of the coalition battling the rebels since March, said a commander of pro-Hadi forces. They will join 500 Sudanese soldiers who arrived in Aden on October 19. Some of them were deployed in the southern port and the strategic Al-Anad airbase in adjacent Lahj province, the source said. Their arrival comes as loyalist forces are mobilising to block a possible attempt by the rebels to re-enter Aden.

The Sudanese and Ethiopian Defense Ministers have expressed commitment to resolutions of the recommendations of the joint technical committee for safeguarding the sovereignty, security and stability of the common border areas.

Speaking at a joint press conference the two ministers held on Monday [March 7] in the Sudanese Ministry of Defense in the end of the 14th session of the joint technical committee, Sudanese Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Awad Mohamed Ahmed Ibn Owf stressed the strategic relations between the two countries particularly in the military field to maintain the border security and stability.

The Sudanese Defense Ministry is prepared for a joint action with Ethiopia, through committees or a joint military force for paving the way for the development of the border areas for the interest of the peoples of the two countries, said Ibn Owf.

Ethiopian Defense Minister Siraj Fegessa said at the press conference that his country is also committed to implementation of the resolutions of the technical committee. The meetings assessed the common needs to serve the interests of the two countries, Fegessa said.

He noted that safety prevails now along the common borders, thanks to the joint security efforts, adding that the two sides agreed on exchange of military experience and training.

The Spokesman of the Armed Forces Brig. Dr. Ahmed Khalifa Ahmed Al-Shami issued a statement Saturday [April 30] evening, in which he announced crash of a military aircraft, Antonov 26 Saturday afternoon due to a sudden malfunction while landing at Al-Obied Airport.

The statement, SUNA received a copy of which, revealed the death of all members of the crew, consisting of three officers and two non-commissioned officers.

Sudan displayed Chinese FB-6A short-range air defence (SHORAD) systems for the first time in an exercise held on 6 December.

Sudan appears to have the same truck-mounted FB-6A system as this shown on the website of the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST), which is a subsidiary of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). (Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology)

Exercise 'Knight's Challenge' was billed as Sudan's largest ever military exercise and was reportedly conducted in the Al-Ma'aqil military area in Nile state north of Khartoum.

Television news footage of the exercise showed what appeared to be a firepower demonstration by an armoured battlegroup with at least 26 T-72 and T-55 tanks, as well as BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles, BTR wheeled armoured personnel carriers (APCs), and a Chinese wheeled APC known in Sudan as the Shareef-2.

Air defence was provided by four 9K33 Osa (SA-8 Gecko) SHORAD systems as well as at least two FB-6A launchers and one radar vehicle mounted on 4x4 trucks rather than the Chinese Humvee-type vehicles they are normally seen on.

Sudan's Military Industry Corporation (MIC) has developed and tested an automotive upgrade for the BRDM-2 4x4 amphibious scout car.

BRDM-2 is normally powered by a GAZ-41 V-8 water-cooled petrol engine developing 140 hp coupled to a manual transmission. This gives a maximum road speed of up to 100 km/h, an operating range of up to 750 km, and a power-to-weight ratio of 20 hp/tonne.

However, MIC has replaced the petrol engine with a more fuel-efficient Isuzu 6HH-1 6-cylinder diesel developing 210 hp that gives a road speed of up to 120 km/h, and a power-to-weight ratio of 30 hp/tonne.

The MIC quotes a gross vehicle weight (GVW) of 7 tonnes, which is the same as that of the original BRDM-2 that was fielded more than 50 years ago as the replacement for the BRDM-1.

The standard production BRDM-2 4x4 has a set of two belly wheels between the front and rear wheels which are lowered to allow the vehicle to cross trenches without the need of any special equipment. On the upgraded example seen by Jane's these have been removed to save weight and space.

The standard BRDM-2 is fully amphibious being propelled through the water - by a single water jet mounted at the rear of the hull - at a maximum speed of 10 km/h. The trim vane is normally stowed under the nose of the vehicle and raised prior to amphibious operations. However, on the upgraded car this trim vane has been removed as Sudan may not have an amphibious requirement.